Posts Tagged ‘crm’
23 July 2012
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Executing a CRM is a stepped process, with each step adding value to the next. A typical stepped process is outlined in this free document.
This training is provided as a free PDF file – just click the big red button!
19 July 2012
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This is part 3 in a series on Cloud CRM vs On-Premises CRM
Any implementation of either cloud CRM or on-premises has a ripple effect throughout your organisation. This CRM ripple effect can either be very positive or dangerously negative, depending on the level of strategic thinking that drives your decision to purchase a CRM solution.
Cloud Based, Browser CRM Tends To Be Disposable
The typical use of a browser (app) is that somebody will open it, they’ll make an enquiry of the browser app and they’ll get the information and – without thought – click close. And then when they need it again they open it up again.
Now an (desktop) application it generally has log-ins and it gets to start screen and there’s generally anywhere from 25 seconds to a minute before you get to your log in screen.
Now if you think about the mechanics of somebody who is working on their database all day long and they are regularly going “click – close – I’m done” and then they’re going back to get their phone number and they realised they’ve closed the browser. How many times are they going to do that before they get miffed?
Users just want ready access, so a desktop application style access works because it tends to be something they own. It’s like ‘It’s my app, I use that in order to run that part of my business.” Whereas a cloud-based browser application tends to be something that they have to do for someone else, something more disposable, less serious.
Now that may sound unfair – there are a number of very significant deployments that are web-based apps – but they haven’t cost you anything. You’ve only got an investment in the form of “that’s where your mail arrives” but you didn’t really have to think about buying it therefore you don’t have to think about getting your ROI.
So you optionally use it or not, whereas when you are using an application that you went to some effort to get and where there is considered thought invested into what it is and how it’s going to be used, then there is an intent for return on investment.
The CRM Ripple Effect
From that comes a ripple effect. Owners, who are ultimately paying the money, are going “I’m spending this because I expect this outcome.” And this gets pushed down to the sales managers – “This is going to give you these capabilities therefore we expect that you are going to perform better and it also means that some of these mistakes that we have are going to stop. And the information about the customer that we currently lose every time an employee leaves is now going to stay in-house”.
There tends to be more of a considered approach to what is the intent for CRM is. So rather than just going “Oh I’ve just installed this software” or “Hey I have just signed up for this browser app, it’s really cool.” “Oh how much does it cost? Nothing? Well, great!”
But then who’s deciding how you should use it? Are your employees, the users on the ground, deciding corporate policy now? Who’s deciding what the communication standards should be? Who is deciding what you are going to do when you have certain business events?
If the users are just making those decisions merrily, what control does the actual owner or the shareholder have? None.
So any CRM – hosted or not – has a ripple effect. A cloud CRM is good in that it enables you to go “Yeah that’s good enough”, but there are inherent dangers in just making a flippant decision on something that important.
This is Part 3 in a 4 part series. Read the next entry. Read the First entry
Brett Cruickshank, MIMC
Managing Director, CRM Strategy
Mobile: 0419 631 375
Email: brettc@crmstrategy.com.au
13 July 2012
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I believe that the hosted CRM vs. non-hosted (or cloud CRM vs. on-premises) argument is a red herring that needs to be reframed as CRM Strategy vs. Stopgap.
- Stopgap: The solution that you buy because you just need something.
- Strategic: The solution that you buy because there are a multitude of options that can be deployed as part of your strategy.
If it’s the latter then hosted or non-hosted, cloud or on-premise CRM – it doesn’t even come into play. It’s a non-issue.
If it’s the former and you’re just buying it without a strategy then you’re probably doing more damage than good. You’ve deemed that lack of access to customer data is not a threat – but relationships (and selling IS relationships), customer data and what you know about the customer IS the game.
Why CRM Minus Strategy Doesn’t Work
There are a couple of schools of thought when it comes to hosted (cloud) CRM. One of the schools of thought is: “I don’t really know what I need but I know I need something. I either don’t have the time, don’t have the energy or I don’t really know how to describe what I really want but I want something because everybody is screaming at me.”
“But I’m not really ready to go through an in-depth needs analysis, so I’ll get some online thing.”
They ask themselves “What do I know about? Actually I know about Salesforce. I’ve seen that around, that’s probably going to be OK”. So provided it doesn’t kill them financially, they buy 5, 10, 15 users and boom: “There’s your CRM. There’s a place you can put your data. Now go away and stop bothering me”.
It’s not strategy, but they’ve got something so they can say “I’ve delivered CRM”. And they can start to use it. What generally happens then is you’ll get some data into it, you’ll get a couple of evangelists who’ll go off and do something with it and you’ll get a couple of other people who will do the mandatory minimum or nothing at all.
It’s probably about a 15 – 20% chance of it igniting and only if one of the evangelists happens to have the ear of anybody senior.
But successful adoption tends to be flukey. So there’s no necessary guarantee of outcome. But what it does enable them to do is to use their credit card to solve a problem. It doesn’t involve IT so they can go around a lot of work and just say “There’s a subscription, knock yourself out”. It doesn’t appear as a capital cost so they didn’t have to budget for it. They can just put it into an operating budget and deal with it easily.
This scenario is not the ideal way because it doesn’t really get you anywhere. It just puts a finger in the dam and stops it from dripping until you get back to it.
This is Part 1 in a 4 part series. Read the next entry.
Brett Cruickshank, MIMC
Managing Director, CRM Strategy
Mobile: 0419 631 375
Email: brettc@crmstrategy.com.au
13 July 2012
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SalesLogix: When should an account be an account?
There is much confusion over business rules on when to create accounts and when to use addresses so in this paper, we aim to provide the thought tools required to set your policy.This training is provided as a free PDF file – just click the big red button!